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I stayed an hour and a half later than the end of my shift today because the nurse I was supposed to pass my patient to was cranky about her assignment. I was going to give her my easy patient and she said, "But I thought I was getting a post-op heart," all concerned. Post-op hearts take lots of time and effort and you never leave the room for a half an hour at least starting out. I offered to get the patient settled in and she said thank you. Then, twenty minutes later, she was all patronizing, like, "You can help me, right? I am so behind! The charge nurse should have told me I was getting that patient!" All of which made no sense because why would she want a more acute patient rather than an easy one when she was behind already?
So I settled her patient in, and when I was getting ready to leave I was informed by physical therapy that the patient was complaining of an allergic reaction to something. An hour, two phone calls to her surgeon *IN THE OR*, one giant puffed-up red faced trout-pout lips woman, and two separate doses of Benadryl IV later, the patient was back on her way to no longer freaking out with a heart rate of 150. Hoorah.
Thanks, lazy nurse, for all your help. I'm glad I don't have to go back to work for another two days. She never did actually let me give her report on "her" patient. Instead, I gave the patient over to the charge nurse (which isn't supposed to happen) and lazy nurse got out of having an extra patient altogether.